Should You Consider Selling Your Home Without a Real Estate Agent? by Jeff Runyon

When you begin to consider selling your home, you have to factor in the expense of doing so. Selling a house is not cheap.

The average real estate commission fee paid to an agent or a broker is about 5%. On the sale of a $200,000 home, that equates to $10,000! That is a quite a large amount to pay.

So for most people, the next consideration is whether or not they can just sell the home themselves. They only see the savings but pay little consideration to the amount of time, effort and work they have to do in order to sell their house at or close to its market value

Before you decide, you need to realize what selling your house yourself will entail.

First, you need to set a plan and to set the plan you will need to ask yourself some very pointed questions.

How are you going to advertise your home for sale? What methods have you considered such as Multiple Listing Service (MLS), online, local newspapers, etc. What are the costs associated with each method? What is the success rate or track record of each method?

Are you going to have 'open-house' and invite prospective buyers to come in and see the home?

If so, are you going to have the time and resources to prepare your home for presentation so that it presents itself in the best light?

One way to get the best idea of what it is going to take to sell you home is to invite a few real estate agents in to discuss your home sell with you. Be up front with them. Tell them you are thinking about selling your home and you are considering doing it as a 'for sale by owner' (known in the real estate industry as a FSBO).

Agents know that most people that go the FSBO route are unsuccessful on their own and end up going with an agent after all. The smart agents will happily entertain your questions and show you the ins and outs of selling you home because this will give them a high level of credibility with you and a leg up on other agents should you decide to go the professional sales agent route.

This is a win-win. The agent will help you by telling you what they think of your house and its readiness for market. If you have selected an agent that is familiar with home sales in your area, they will be able to accurately guide you in setting the price for market, show you things you can do to improve the home's appearance, both inside and out, plus give you some advice on what direction to go in marketing your home for sale.

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